Time to find out if the Huskies' sound and fury means anything

Updated 10:00 pm, Thursday, September 3, 2009

Time to find out whether all the hollering and jumping around at Montlake amounts to anything, or is just an involuntary reaction to the absence of toxicity.

No team in University of Washington football history has had to come back from an 0-12 season, so it's hard to know what things are supposed to look like Saturday night.

Is it enough to merely to make a crooked line on the football EKG? Is a bloodied opponent nose a moral victory? Or is Husky Nation satisfied with the fact that no federal TARP money, however deserved, was accepted this offseason?

Certainly, no primate with a capacity for abstract reasoning is expecting a win, not with Louisiana State in town for the opener, perhaps the most adverse booking since Miss South Carolina was on "Jeopardy!"

A national power from the Southeastern Conference, LSU arrives packing a chip after an 8-5 season that was mediocre by the standards of Baton Rouge, where breathing, eating and sex are tied for a distant second behind college football.

"Without question it's a new era," he said Monday, smiling. "We have new uniforms."

Sarcasm aside, newness indeed has slathered the purple landscape beyond the dashing duds -- coaching staff, training staff, playbook, terminology, drills, energy, mind-numbing use of the word "awesome" -- and will all come together for the first time on national TV.

Sheesh. Not even Karl Wallenda headed out on the tight rope first thing out of bed.

"We're embracing the challenge, more than 'woe is us,'" said Sarkisian, who seems capable of talking a firing squad into a coffee break. But what else can he say? "Wait till 2010? "

One place where newness bears special intrigue is at running back. The depth chart goes five deep, but has just five previous game starts among the backs. Three are sophomores, one is a redshirt freshman and one a true freshman.

If this group were a day younger, an afternoon nap would be mandatory.

Chris Polk is the nominal starter, a redshirt frosh who opened the first two games a year ago before injuries ended his season.

The likely first replacement, however, is the subject of most curiosity, because Johri Fogerson was a starter last year -- as a safety.

As a true freshman, he started the season's second game against Oklahoma (plus six others). For those of you who peeked through the fingers over your face, you saw the Sooners slaughter the Huskies 55-14. Yet somehow Fogerson led the team in tackles with nine. Then again, as the last man back, he had a lot of opportunities.

But after spending a year attempting to rescue a defensive backfield nearly bereft of Pac-10-caliber talent, he was asked by Sarkisian before fall camp to do the same for the offensive backfield.

This time, he couldn't be happier.

"It's exciting -- I love running the ball," he said after a recent practice. "I love pass blocking. If I'm around the ball, I get an adrenaline rush."

He made that point repeatedly at Seattle's O'Dea High School, where he became one of the most prolific running backs in recent state history. As a senior, he was the state player of the year, offering up 2,545 yards and 36 touchdowns as O'Dea went 13-1, losing only to Skyline in the Class 3A championship.

In that game, he ran for 297 yards and four TDs. Later on that year, just for grins, he won the state high jump championship at 6-foot-8.

Despite his bona fides as a runner, Fogerson a year ago was surprised by former coach Tyrone Willingham. Without warning, Fogerson entered the locker room before practice to find a defensive jersey on his hook. He shouted to the equipment manager.

"He goes, 'No, baby, you're on defense,'" Fogerson said. "Then I found a defensive playbook in my locker. The explanation was we were down in the depth chart at safety. They figured they could switch me over since I played it before.

"It was disappointing at first. I worked all summer at tailback. All of a sudden to not get a chance when I see others I competed against get a chance . . . it was a little frustrating. But I was on the field, so no big deal."

This time the switch figures to play to his strength, according to his prep coach, O'Dea's Monte Kohler.

"The offense is a pro style two-back, and he's a big back (6--1, 191) that can wear down a defense," he said. "He'll make you miss, runs through tackles well, doesn't give up and gets better as the game goes on."

The knock on him as a prepster was a lack of breakaway speed. Hawaii was the only other big school to offer a scholarship, and Washington's offer came late.

"I couldn't believe Washington took so long," Kohler said. "Johri is a mature kid, a leader who puts a team on his back and says, 'Let's go.' Other kids respond to him."

Entering spring ball, Fogerson was listed as a co-starter at safety. But when three of the offense's top four rushers left school, Sarkisian brought him in to his office for a talk.